The present invention relates, in general, to electronics and, more particularly, to methods of forming semiconductor devices and structure.
In the past, the semiconductor industry used power supplies that maintained a constant Direct Current (DC) output voltage even though the load current or the input voltage may have changed. For switching power supplies, this has led to switching and efficiency losses when operating at low and high load currents. For example, a switching power supply may include a driver circuit that drives a high side transistor and a low side transistor in which the source terminal of the high side transistor is connected to the drain terminal of the low side transistor. The source terminal of the low side transistor may be coupled for receiving a source of operating potential such as, for example, a voltage VSS. In this configuration the node formed by the connection of the source of the high side transistor to the drain of the low side transistor is at a floating potential. To stabilize the output voltage of the converter under different loads, a bootstrap circuit may be included to help drive the high side transistor. Bootstrap circuitry suitable for use in a converter has been disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0259238 A1 filed by Chieh-Wen Cheng and published on Oct. 14, 2010, and in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0110556 A1 filed by Yannick Guedon and published on May 26, 2005. A drawback with these techniques is that the bootstrap circuits include a capacitor that contains charge that slowly decays through parasitic leakage paths.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a method and circuit suitable for driving a high side transistor. It would be of further advantage for the method and circuit to be cost efficient to implement.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and the same reference characters in different figures denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements are omitted for simplicity of the description. As used herein current carrying electrode means an element of a device that carries current through the device such as a source or a drain of an MOS transistor or an emitter or a collector of a bipolar transistor or a cathode or anode of a diode, and a control electrode means an element of the device that controls current flow through the device such as a gate of an MOS transistor or a base of a bipolar transistor. Although the devices are explained herein as certain N-channel or P-channel devices, or certain N-type or P-type doped regions, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that complementary devices are also possible in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the words during, while, and when as used herein are not exact terms that mean an action takes place instantly upon an initiating action but that there may be some small but reasonable delay, such as a propagation delay, between the reaction that is initiated by the initial action and the initial action. The use of the words approximately, about, or substantially means that a value of an element has a parameter that is expected to be very close to a stated value or position. However, as is well known in the art there are always minor variances that prevent the values or positions from being exactly as stated. It is well established in the art that variances of up to about ten percent (10%) (and up to twenty percent (20%) for semiconductor doping concentrations) are regarded as reasonable variances from the ideal goal of exactly as described.
It should be noted that a logic zero voltage level (VL) is also referred to as a logic low voltage and that the voltage level of a logic zero voltage is a function of the power supply voltage and the type of logic family. For example, in a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) logic family a logic zero voltage may be thirty percent of the power supply voltage level. In a five volt Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) system a logic zero voltage level may be about 0.8 volts, whereas for a five volt CMOS system, the logic zero voltage level may be about 1.5 volts. A logic one voltage level (VH) is also referred to as a logic high voltage level and, like the logic zero voltage level, the logic high voltage level also may be a function of the power supply and the type of logic family. For example, in a CMOS system a logic one voltage may be about seventy percent of the power supply voltage level. In a five volt TTL system a logic one voltage may be about 2.4 volts, whereas for a five volt CMOS system, the logic one voltage may be about 3.5 volts.